Bios Mods -The Best BIOS Update and Modification Source

(07-16-2011, 08:22 AM)kizwan Wrote: [ -> ]I checked your modified _C00.PEI. I noticed the new microcode is not aligned correctly. (Top is original _C00.PEI, below is yours).

Actually I aligned it correctly if it is true that the Sa3650's microcode has the same structure. But now I see that isn't the case. I've attached the Sa3650's original microcode. What seems to have tricked me is that this one has an extra padding zero before each microcode section.
So what you were comparing there was the Sa3650 code with the original Travelmate one. Am I on the right track here?
I'll correct the microcode and flash that. My guess is that the funky p-state will be corrected, but I'm not so optimistic about the throttling...

EDIT: Yep, the p-states are now back to normal, but throttling still happens. It's even a little more aggressive, because the cores don't have to be on 100% to trigger the throttling on 75 °C. But that's probably becuase of the climate (34-37 °C outside here in the summer...).

Sorry, I forgot to attach the corrected microcode too, you might still want to check that too?

Yes, they are properly aligned now. Sorry, I don't have any new info for you.

kizwan, you're now quite experienced in unlocking hidden options in the BIOS, yes? I was thinking that it would be a good solution to find a way to disable ACPI in the BIOS, that way I could force Windows not to throttle either. Do you think that there's a chance there might be such an option hidden in there somewhere?
When I need the performance, my laptop sits on the top of my desk plugged in anyway, so I couldn't care less about power consumption, so this would be an equally good solution. I'm saying this because I think that we won't be able to avoid actually having to rewrite parts of the BIOS code, and I have no idea how to do that (do you?).
Or I could start looking for BIOSes that have equal or smaller size MISER modules, and start replacing that .

Last time I checked there is no option related to ACPI or power management at all. If you found a notebook which use Turion Ultra ZM-87 & doesn't experienced throttling at all, probably you can try copy the MISER from that notebook BIOS to yours.

BTW, are you sure replacing the correct Microcode? Does the new Microcode contain the Turion Ultra ZM-87 CPUID? In AIDA64, there is CPUID section. Can you post the screenshot of that section here?

Sorry for not replying in the past few days, but my hotel's WiFi has been acting weird (I was on holiday).
I think I found the correct section in AIDA64, which produced a text file, so I attached that instead. I think I'll try switching the MISER module, the only problem is that the Sa3650's MISER is quite a lot bigger than the TM5530G's. So I'll start searching for another BIOS that surely works with a ZM-87.

No problem. Coincidentally, my internet connection also have problem. Usually during Friday - Sunday night (>12am) I join my friends playing online games. I don't know what is going on but (I suspect) look like my ISP is now blocking Steam. After several phone call, I decided to change ISP.

From the CPUID dump I think this is CPUID (unless AMD use different name):-
CPUID Revision : 00200F31h

We know that:-
- Offset 0: 32-bit word for update creation date (e.g. 0x20040602)
- Offset 12: 32-bit checksum: sum of all 32-bit words in the data area
- Offset 24: Low 8 bits of the cpuid (e.g. 0xf48 -> 0x48).
- Offset 28: 4 bytes: 0x01 0xaa 0xaa 0xaa (evidently a reference to (A)MD.)

(CPUID Revision : 00200F31h) : Low 8 bits of the cpuid = F31h

Based on the field descriptions, I thought 4 bytes from offset 24 (18h) is for CPUID. What do you think?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you've got that right , 31h is followed by 20h at offset 25, so that part definitely seems to contain the CPUID revision.
Meanwhile I've found that the Acer Ferrari 1200's service manual includes the ZM-87 into the list of compatible processors, the only problem is that the MISER module in that one is still 150 bytes too big. This Travelmate has a really small MISER module it would seem (or it's just my bad luck)...

Don't they read:-
31 20 00 00 = 2031h?

Wasn't that read CPUID 2031h?

Did you tried anyway re-integrating the larger MISER using PBE?

(07-23-2011, 10:18 AM)kizwan Wrote: [ -> ]Don't they read:-
31 20 00 00 = 2031h?

Wasn't that read CPUID 2031h?

Did you tried anyway re-integrating the larger MISER using PBE?

True, but it is still quite similar .
I've successfully built a ROM with the Ferrari's MISER, I'll edit this post once I've tried to flash it.

EDIT: Totally useless... PBE didn't produce a single working BIOS image since I've been using it. Not other choice but to keep looking for a smaller or equal size MISER module

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Did you see this string in the TM's BIOS yet?
'Enable or Disable C2/C3', 0Dh, 'CPU power states in', 0Dh, 'ACPIFACP table.'
Could this belong to some hidden option after all?